Searchers Find Two Missing Men

Two local men were the subjects of a search in the park’s North Fork area during the night of January 6th after they pursued their mountain lion hounds across the Flathead River into the park. A dozen North Valley Search and Rescue (SAR) Team members and three park rangers were involved in a successful effort to locate the men and their dogs. Rangers were contacted by members of the North Valley SAR Team at 7:30 p.m. and asked to begin a search for the two overdue men. The men told a family member that they were going after the dogs at 11 a.m. that morning – the last communication anyone had with them. Rangers on snowmobiles found the men shortly after midnight about three-and-a-half miles south of the Polebridge Ranger Station on the Inside North Fork Road.  Bill Sapa, 39, of Columbia Falls, and Lawrence Bedford, 34, of Martin City, had gone snowmobiling off the North Fork Road toward the direction of the park late on the morning of January 6th in search of two hunting dogs.  According to their GPS units, the GPS-collared dogs had crossed the North Fork of the Flathead River into the park in pursuit of a mountain lion and had not returned.  Weather conditions consisted of heavy, wet snow, falling on four feet of unconsolidated snow, and the hunters had no skis or snowshoes. The men were last seen that morning at their vehicle outside the park just south of Hay Creek, approximately four miles south of Polebridge Ranger Station. The last known location of the dogs was inside the park near Winona Lake approximately one-and-a-half miles due east of where the truck was parked and approximately five miles south of the Polebridge Ranger Station.  The hunter’s snowmobiles were found only 200 yards from their vehicle, bogged down due to snow conditions and terrain. After the hunters were reported overdue, two North Fork SAR Team members set off on skis from the point last seen at approximately 8:30 p.m. and followed the hunter’s tracks in an effort to verify their direction and likely location. The hunters’ tracks veered south along the North Fork of the Flathead River and crossed into the park. The searchers speculated that the hunters might be headed toward the Logging Creek Ranger Station, eight miles south of Polebridge.  At that point, given the late hour and heavy, wet, snow conditions, rangers began an initial search by snowmobile. They were unsuccessful during their first sweep south from Polebridge, but a second sweep was made shortly after midnight and rangers soon encountered the two dogs and eventually both hunters – still tracking the dogs.  The hunters told rangers they could tell by GPS that the dogs had followed the fresh snowmobile tracks north toward the ranger station and were walking in that direction when found. Both hunters and dogs were transported out of the backcountry and back to the Polebridge Ranger Station. Bedford and Sapa told rangers that they were not in distress, but pursued the dogs into the park for fear that they might be killed by wolves if left overnight and were simply continuing their search.  “Individuals hunting with dogs are responsible for insuring that they stay out of Glacier National Park,” said superintendent Chas Cartwright in a media release. “In an effort to minimize unnecessary search efforts, hunters are also urged to make responsible decisions concerning communicating their plans and itineraries to an accountable party.”  Bedford, the owner of the dogs was cited under 36 CFR 2.15(a)(1) for having dogs in a closed area.